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Customer feedback on stones

Here is a recent e-mail i received from a customer regarding some stones he purchased... thought you guys might enjoy it:

Actually, I was writing to report back on the new stones you sold me, the Gesshin 5000 and the large Awasedo.

Because I’m a home cook (although I occasionally will do 50-person meals for my wife’s church), and have too many kitchen knives, they stay pretty sharp. I normally finish with the Rika 5000, and had done them all two weekends ago, so I skipped the Gesshin and went to the Awasedo. Rinses it off under the sink, and went to work. I was going to write “wow!” until I realized it wasn’t so much a wow, as that clam, warm, and satisfied feeling you get when you are using a high quality tool that does exactly what is promised. I whipped through about ten knives in about 20 minutes. The feel is great, and there’s just enough noise to know something’s going on. The stone mudded up immediately, but not as thickly as the Rika. I have a Naniwa 10k Superstone, and like it, but knives feel almost like they are skipping along the surface. By comparison, the knives simply slide easily on the awasedo. You done good, on this one as far as I’m concerned.

I tried out the Gesshin on my 30 year old Japanese woodworking chisels. While in excellent shape, I been using them sporadically and a basic sharpening session was long overdue. After re-beveling at 1000k, I used the Gesshin to put a microbevel on the edges and also to briefly polish the undersides. I also touched up a few plane blades. Tried a few chisels and a plane on some nice dry white oak, and here again the stone performed beautifully. The tactile sensation was grippy enough to avoid the skipping issue, actually much more of a problem with the woodworking tools because it’s somewhat harder, especially on a narrow chisels, to avoid wobble while freehanding. The stone cut quickly, and left a nice surface. I’ll actually take these edges quite a bit higher (16k or so), since toothy edges are not the advantage they are in the kitchen, but the Gesshin proved out admirably.

My apologies for rambling along, instead of just saying that I loved both of them, and that your service was stellar as always, but it’s easy to just babble along while watching football.

this is getting more intensified.. trying to remember all teh japanese names of the stones and their respective grits, how to sharpen, hone is already a monumental task. How the secret is to " connect" with the stones?" These stones.. do they have magical powers like crystals that you can feel the energy? pray do tell... any instructions as to how to will be appreciated...